Ford Australia investment could spawn next Crown Vic
As we reported earlier today Ford's Australian arm has announced a big investment that includes aid from the Australian government. It will result in the development of an engineering and design "centre of excellence" for the Asia Pacific and Africa region, as well as new product plans that may, just may produce the next Crown Vic in the U.S. Blue Oval News has posted Ford's press release, which states the investment amounts to almost $1.4 billion USD. In it Ford details plans for a new global light commercial vehicle architecture that would be exported to over 80 countries, as well as an all-new Falcon and Territory. The Falcon and Territory would ride on a new large rear-wheel drive platform, which has led BON to speculate the next Crown Vic could come care of the Aussies. For that matter, the next Ford Ranger could also use Ford Australia's new light commercial vehicle platform. Of course, for either of these imports to happen a solid business case needs to be present, which, as we've seen with other Aussie immigrants like GM's GTO, is a difficult case to make.
[Source: Blue Oval News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TriShield 1:06PM (5/07/2006)
The Crown Victoria should be buried and replaced with the Ford Falcon as it is, with no meddling from Ford USA. I've driven an XR6T and it is an utterly fantastic car that has what it takes to go up against Chrysler's big RWDs.
The Monaro failed here because GM decided to have it wear a sacred American nameplate that sparked a fury with the public. The Monaro was never meant to be a Pontiac GTO and that's why it failed. Australian Fords do not have this problem. The GTO's failure still hasn't soured GM on selling Holden products since they are still going ahead with Zeta cars (which are all next gen. Holden Commodores).
If anything selling the Falcon here as it is would pique more interest as people remember it as a classic Ford name but it doesn't have legendary ghosts the car would have to deal with. People remember the names Falcon, and Fairlane but they don't worship them like people do the GTO.
The Australian Fairlane or LTD would be excellent cars for Ford's US lineup as well. And they should also start selling the new Focus here while they're at it.
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TriShield 1:11PM (5/07/2006)
Ford Australia - www.ford.com.au
Ford Performance Vehicles (Aussie SVT equivalent) - www.fpv.com.au
Car and Driver drives Falcon XR6T - http://www.caranddriver.com/specialtyfiles/8210/specialty-file-ford-falcon-xr6-turbo.html
Car and Drive drives Aussie Ford lineup - http://www.caranddriver.com/features/11036/features-review-fords-that-could-save-ford-now.html
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Proud Japanese 1:15PM (5/07/2006)
Running low on news eh?
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Mrr. Fab 1:38PM (5/07/2006)
That a new Oz Ford rwd platform will be a new Crown Vic is a sourceless incorrect assumption. Ford's rumored Mustang platform rwd sedan is poised to be their 300C fighter halo car. Perhaps "The Way FORwarD" means FoMoCo develops international modular rwd platforms like GM is. A lengthened rwd platform would suit an overdue
Crown Vic fleet car as well as a Lincoln Town Car replacement. FINALLY Ford is hopefully making a "Bold Move" in bringing their Oz Ford panache stateside . . . hopefully.
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ShureF00t 2:52PM (5/07/2006)
$36k-38k is a bit pricey in my mind, eventhough it does fall directly in the range of 300C and Charger SRT-8's.
For this to work, I think Ford would also have to simultaneously release a stripped-down version of this model--say, with a NA V6--somewhere in the mid-to-upper $20k mark.
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jap cars blow 4:24PM (5/07/2006)
its a sweet car that falcon, and now the xr6 turbo has even more power and torque, its faster than the boss 260, and it has a slick 6-speed, or a 6-speed manumatic, if ford sold this here it would sell like hotcakes, its more refined looking than the chrysler and dodge, and its just as fast or faster with a great interior, and the base models w/ a regular straight six, or 260 V8 undercut the chrysler and dodge twins,
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cowboy bob 4:28PM (5/07/2006)
Post #1- the GTO failed because it wasn't a GTO. Not because it was a Holden. I had two GTO'S, a '66, and a '74. Same problem then, as now. A Nova with a Pontiac nameplate is not a GTO either. U.S. companies just don't "get it". Next, why is it that we seem to be letting the Aussies run the show? Seems like everything we get now comes from "down under". What happened to Detroit, to many "downsizings"? Perhaps they should have started nearer the top.
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Talis 4:59PM (5/07/2006)
#6, You must not know your history. All we can do is speculate about what was the real cause of poor sales for the "new" GTO. My guess is because this time around, the GTO was a Badge Engieered Holden. On paper the GTO had all the right stuff, big engine, RWD, manual tranny, real two door coupe.
When the GTO frist came out in 1964, it was a trim option on the Pontiac Tempest. The Tempest was the Pontiac version of the Chvey Malibu. This is called PLATFROM SHARING! In 1965 do to high demand, the GTO was offered as a seperate car, not just a trim option, but was still a Tempest with the Bonneville engine. In 1967, when the GTO "up sized", the car was offered on the LaMans platform (the Malibu moved to the up sized platform and the Nova took the place of GM's littlest car). This trend continued until the demise of all of GM's big musscle cars in the mid 70's. The Chevelle, the GTO, the 442, and the GSX where all the same PLATFORM. I don't how you got the idea the GTO and Nova are the same car, but you may want to take a closer look at your GM history. The only thing I can think of that would have given you that idea was the later late70's early80's LeMans/Novas. They where the same car, but the GTO was dead and gone.
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Talis 5:04PM (5/07/2006)
CORRECTION: the X-body Nova was the platform for the Ventura
Sorry...
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mlp211 5:07PM (5/07/2006)
#7, the 74 GTO shared the same body and frame as the Nova, the only differance was the front bumper and the Pontiac had a shaker hood scoop barrowed from a Trans Am.
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Stan 5:31PM (5/07/2006)
The Monaro-based GTO failed because it was a world-class sedan with impressive performance at a price to match. American's shopping for such a vehicle anticipate that it would come from Audi, Lexus, and, on it's best day, Cadillac. Folks seeking such a vehicle would not come within a quarter mile of a Pontiac dealer. The marketing was directed at people who are more likely to be interested in more humble offerings, and balked at the GTOs price.
Which begs the question: Could an American nameplate successfully vend a world-class vehicle on this continent? Signs point to no.
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mike 5:34PM (5/07/2006)
I think one of the reason the new GTO failed is the price. A 1964 GTO will sell for around 18-19K in todays dollars, I would think GM could boat loads of a stripped down V-8 RWD car with a manual for under 18K.
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FPV GTHO 4:33AM (5/08/2006)
The sad fact is that any local car here will only be a niche product in the US as theyre not built there! Why's that a problem? Well the US auto unions dont let us import more than 18000, and the fact equivalent cars are MUUUCH cheaper in the US. The GTO was sent over and started at a price equivalent to around $AUD10K cheaper than what we had them, with better engines, and people STILL thought they were too expensive
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Steve O'Keefe 4:42AM (5/08/2006)
Will General Motors and Ford merge? It almost happened once, in 1908,
when J.P. Morgan tried to put together a deal between four major car
makers: Ford, Buick, Olds, and Briscoe-Maxwell. The secret meeting
between the heads of those companies is retold in an excerpt from the
new book, "Billy, Alfred, and General Motors," published by AMACOM, at
http://tinyurl.com/nqf2x
What's amazing is that all the parties agreed to the merger -- even
Henry Ford. It looked like a done deal, then suddenly fell apart. The
reasons are complex, involving the psychology of self-made men vs.
schooled managers, distributed vs. central control, and inventors vs.
the financiers they hate but can't grow without.
The book is written by National Book Award nominee William Pelfrey. A
veteran freelance journalist and GM insider, Pelfrey recreates the
events of that day using obscure newspaper accounts, personal
letters, and other previously unpublished documents.
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Richard Irion 6:59AM (5/08/2006)
At the moment Ford Motor Company is a rudderless ship, so it matters not what products they develop because in the end they will either not bring them to market or water-them-down so much the customer will not want to buy them. Over the past few months we have all seen several nice looking Ford products (Focus Coupe-cabriolet-Adrenalin) that would probably sell but its seems Ford either doesn't have the money to bring them to market or worst yet doesn't trust in its loyal customers to buy them.
Ford Motor Company needs a "New CEO" now! Until it gets one it will continue to flounder.
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Noah 11:37AM (5/08/2006)
The current Vic is just fine leave it for ANOTHER 10 years and it'll have a beetle like following.
--Noah
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matt 12:36AM (5/17/2006)
It's an interesting comment posted by Mike. Why don't they make a rwd v8 18k chevrolet cobalt? The v8 isn't more expensive than the L4, and rwd isn't more expensive to produce that fwd. At least Ford and GM could do it because of the simplicity and volume of v8s they produce. Something that the Japanese couldn't easily counter. As for those concerned about MPG you could have a detuned the v8 to run at 3000rpm to get the gas milage of a L4, (those v8s don't weigh much more than the L4). Thoughts?
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Phillo 11:05AM (5/17/2006)
In my opinion, Ford Australia will develop the platform for the next crown vic and then it will be assembled in the USA to avoid union issues. The falcon/fairlane models will continue to be built in Australia and LHD models will be exported to the middle east etc as premium cars just like holdens statesman.
And the real reason why Australians are getting the work over the Americans - Because we do a better job, at a cheaper price, with less bullsh*t than you guys.
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